You know how at parties there's always that one guy who brings a guitar and starts ruining proceedings by picking away at it? Well, the last few years have replaced six strings with coloured buttons, and what used to bring a kegger to an early finish has now become the life and soul of the party thanks to an assortment of interactive playlists brought to us by the various incarnations of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Now for the first time ever you can sing, strum and smash your way through The Beatles back catalogue and Play are giving away the Solus version of the game (no instruments included) on Xbox 360 and PS3 for just £19.99, over five bucks cheaper than the nearest competitors (Gamestation - £25.99).

To be honest, I never really saw the point of creating Beatles version of Rock Band. Although I would be a fool to paint the Fab Four in a drab light, there isn't really a huge amount here for the instrumental players to get their teeth into. Ringo Starr is not Dave Grohl or Lars Ulrich, and although no one doubts that George Harrison could have pulled off the most extravagant of guitar solos had he chosen to, the fact is that most part he's fairly restrained. The real pull factor here is the harmony engine that allows multiple singers to pull off those famed Beatles three-part musical wonders. Of course, to do that you're going to need more microphones and, luckily for PS3 owners, Play are offering Rock Band: The Beatles bundled with two wired SingStar-style mics for just £10 more at £29.99.

Whether or not you should buy this game depends entirely on just how much you love Rock Bandand The Beatles. If it's just the former then just avail yourself of the expansive downloadables on offer and wait for a further drop in price. If it's just the latter then it'd be cheaper and more satisfying to buy one of the recent discographies. But the microphone pack is well worth looking into: This is essentially (and probably should have been) just a SingStar game with extras. Placed in that context, the microphone pack makes a lot of sense if you're Beatlemanic gamer, to both ears and pocket.